The Thestrals
by Rowkey
Summary: Four invisible horselike animals take a muggle home's backyard into their territory. One of the children, Rudane, bonds with them and considers them 'friends'. Tragedy strikes, and their bond is lost forever. AU. Oneshot.


**The Thestrals**

Dark brown eyes stared through the sliding glass door that led to his house's backyard. It was the perfect picture of a mid autumn morning outside, and the ten year old boy, Rudane, couldn't wait to explore the yard; his friends might be out there.

Rudane jumped slightly when he noticed that his German shepherd dog, a pure white female named Bella, had walked up behind him, wanting to follow him outside. "No, no, Bella, I'm going to talk to my friends now. They're scared of you, remember? I'll be right back," he smiled at her. Wagging her tail, she turned about and jumped onto the living room couch to nap until her owner returned from the backyard.

The boy grinned inwardly as he slid the door sideways, stepped out into the mid-October weather, and slid it back shut. A light breeze stirred his shoulder-length blonde hair this way and that as he glanced about the moderately landscaped yard. There were four foot tall bushes lining the orange-wood fence in the back, dotted with young weeping willows. and small boulders. Little round yellow flowers poked up from the aforementioned boulders, and purple ones laced the dark green bushes. Though an overcast sky deluded the colors a bit, there was no denying that the yard was very beautiful.

He strode a few paces to the middle of the yard's green lawn and raised his hand to his shoulder's height. Immediately, he felt, but didn't see, a soft set of lips and a nose, obviously equine in structure. He raised his other hand and massaged the side of the invisible horse-like head. These were his friends. Though they were invisible to everyone, even Rudane, they were definitely not imaginary. There were four of them, the horses, that often visited his backyard. There was a mother and father, an older daughter, and a young son. He hadn't named them, but he knew each one by heart. As he outlined the head with his hands, he called, "Hello, everyone!" and four quiet snorts answered.

Clips and clops of their hooves and the flapping of their leathery wings meandered about and various stalks of grass disappeared into thin air. Rudane laughed quietly. His father always wondered why the grass was trimmed, yet the flowers and shrubs were never eaten. He obviously suspected deer, and not Rudane's friends. Though his friends felt decidedly skinny and skeletal for horses, he knew that they were getting enough to eat, and decided that it was normal for...whatever they were. His hands trailed over the shoulder and onto the wing of the friend. This was the young colt. The colt moved its wing about and rubbed the tip along Rudane's lightly freckled face. The boy smiled again. This was magical.

He turned his head as he heard his mother calling him inside for dinner. Facing his friends again, sensing each member of the family, he told them a quick goodbye, and reassured them that he would be back later to spend time with them.

The dinner was a delicious one, with cooked corn, chicken, and mashed potatoes. After fifteen minutes of relaxing conversation with his older brother, sister, and mother, his father called. He was working late again. Mother then suggested that they all take Bella on a walk to make up for the time. All of the kids agreed, and in less than five minutes, the little family was out the door and down the street, enjoying the pleasant atmosphere.

It happened so suddenly that none of them saw it coming. From behind a fence, a cat sprinted with a dead baby rabbit clutched in it's jaws. It dashed right across the street. Bella couldn't ignore her instincts, and took off after the feline. Perhaps it was all fate, but on that road that was usually very quiet and without traffic, a car came rushing by, hitting poor Bella square in the back of the ribcage. She died almost instantly, after a few hard breaths.

Rudane's eyes grew wide and it seemed that his heart had stopped beating. He saw Bella's body fly, skidding nearly ten feet. The cat escaped safely to the other side of the road, pausing to look back at the commotion. The poor boy was speechless. His sister screamed and ran over to her fallen companion, as did his mother. His brother came running from behind; he hadn't seen what happened, but he knew by instinct. The driver of the car was motionless, exactly akin to Rudane. His mother called him over, and the events that followed passed in a blur that he couldn't make out. The shock and depression was just to begin.

Rudane returned home that night a nervous wreck. Bella had been just like a family member to him, and seeing her die had struck an awful chord. His young heart was tearing in two. 'Maybe it'll all feel better in the morning...' he thought, hopelessly. Tears falling down his cheeks, he hurried up to his bedroom and slept a tortured sleep full of the whining of the dogs and the beating of his friends' wings in the night.

---

It was nearly ten in the morning before Rudane dragged himself out of bed the next morning, eyes still puffy from the profuse crying he had done for Bella. His heart lightened as he realized that he could talk to his friends about the situation. They always listened and never made a sound of protest when he told them his problems. A new jump in his step, he managed to avoid his family members and slip out of the glass door.

As he expected, there was no sign of any living creature outside. He walked into the center of the lawn and realized, however, that there wasn't a trace of his friends, either. 'Maybe if I call to them...' he thought, as he opened his mouth to speak. All too suddenly there was a rustling in the bushes at the rear of the yard. With high hopes, Rudane approached, waving away stray hairs that had fallen in his face. This was the young colt again.

A smile remained on the boy's face until a snout actually appeared, protruding, from the bush. It was black, and, though it had fur, was almost scaly. A white canine tooth hung down on one side of the colt's lip. Immensely frightened, Rudane jumped nearly three feet back as the nose continued forward, producing the head and neck of a young, emaciated, white eyed, black horse. It nodded its head as it tried to get closer to Rudane, to allow him to pet it's face. The wings attached to its' back were misshapen with youth, and resembled those of a young bird.

Rudane nearly fell backward as he struggled to get away. Another horse appeared, this one an older foal. It was the young female. It made an odd bleating noise with a hint of a squeal. Rudane's heart beat uproariously. His back flat against the glass pane, he had only to grab the handle to get away. But the stallion had appeared at the very right edge of the yard. It was nearly five feet tall at the shoulder, and its black wings were enough to engulf a human. The stallion's eyes were the most terrifying of the bunch (the mare had stepped in behind him, eyeing Rudane reproachfully), as they pierced even the daylight with a horrible glow. Investigating Rudane's strange behavior, all four began to walk towards him, all of their bones moving visibly beneath their scale-like furred skin.

Once again, tears pricked the corners of the ten year old's eyes, though this time, they were tears of fear. He swung the door open as far as he could and ran inside so quickly he nearly forgot to close it. Almost at a sprint, he ran straight into his brother who stopped him forcefully. "Whoa, what's wrong, Rude? You look scared senseless!" he said. Rudane took a large gulp of air, attempting to make a coherent sentence and failing miserably, "Horses...! Wings...four...black! ...Outside, backyard...!"

His brother gave him a strange and apprehensive look before going back to the door to look for himself. "...Rude, there's nothing there. Are you feeling okay? I know it's hard losing Bella and all..." he attempted to pat Rudane on the back, but the boy was already dashing back up to his room.

From his window that overlooked the back yard, Rudane was staring at the four horses. They were still there. His brother hadn't seen them.

He began to think to himself. "Maybe my friends couldn't see them either! The horses killed my friends...!" He paused for a few moments, head reeling as the real answer came to him.

Those WERE his friends.

---

Rudane Phoenix did not know that his friends were called thestrals, nor did he, at the time, know about the wizarding world. After all, he was only a young boy living in a muggle household that was now without it's Bella.


End file.
